Chrome for Android: Restore Bookmarks and Recent Tabs links

I have talked about this back in August when the feature landed in development versions of Chrome for Android.

Basically, what it does is add article recommendations to the New Tab Page. Chrome for Android users who open the New Tab page can swipe down on it to see the "articles for you" list.

It features articles from the usual mainstream sources such as Lifehacker, Polygon, The Next Web or Fox News.

There is virtually no indication on the page that you can swipe down, but that is not the only issue that you may have with the new feature.

Apart from being unable to modify news sources in any meaningful way, or block some through filter lists so that their articles don't appear anymore, you may notice that the links to Bookmarks and Recent Tabs has been removed from the New Tab page.

Update: The articles for you widget is displayed by default now in Chrome. While you get an option to hide it, it won't display the bookmarks or recent tabs links anymore. The only option available is to tap on the menu icon to access Recent Tabs or Bookmarks from it.

Chrome for Android: Restore Bookmarks and Recent Tabs links

Compare the left side of the screenshot with the right side. The left shows bookmarks and recent tabs underneath the Google search box and the top site thumbnails, the new version that Google launched in Chrome 54 does not.

That's puzzling as the space is there. As you can see, Google dropped all elements on the New Tab page just a little bit, but there is still enough place for these two links.

You can get the bookmarks and recent tabs links back on Chrome for Android. The new "articles for you" feature is currently hidden behind a flag. Flags point to experimental features that may already be enabled. It may happen at any time that a flag gets removed, and along with it the feature. Or, and that is another possibility, the flag gets removed because Google integrates the feature deeper into Chrome for Android.

If the latter happens, the following workaround won't work anymore. For now though, you can use it to restore the bookmarks and recent tabs link on Chrome for Android:

Open a new tab page in Google Chrome for Android.

Type chrome://flags in the address bar and hit enter.

Tap on the menu icon in the top right corner (the three dots) and select "Find on page".

Enter "content snippets". Chrome should jump to the "Show content snippets on the new tab page" flag.

Tap on the selection menu underneath it, and set the feature to disabled.

Restart Chrome with a tap on the restart button that appears afterwards.

When you open a new tab page after you have made the change, you will notice that bookmarks and recent tabs are visible again on the new tab page. Also, the articles for you listing is no longer provided.

Find out how to restore the Bookmarks and Recent Tabs links on the new tab page of Chrome 54 or later on Android devices.

Author

Martin Brinkmann

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Ghacks Technology News

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About Martin Brinkmann

Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand.You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter

Thanks so much. I was so close to switching to Firefox when I thought the bookmarks tab was gone. Why would they take something that was so useful and replace it with random news articles? It’s so much more convenient and faster having bookmarks available at the homepage.

Thank you so much for this. I was searching for this all over the internet. Finally found a reliable and working article. This is better. I am more of a sync person as I always keep changing devices in my hands, it’s really helpful to me. Thanks a lot again.

Thanks a million. I did that, still did not clear the notification that there were new snippets, so in the same area as those disabled content snippets there are other options. I got back the small bookmarks button, and cleared everything else, in effect back to before the 54 new update. Thanks again

GodDamnItGoogleFixGmailNotifications said on November 19, 2016 at 5:05 am

Since Gmail notifications have been unacceptably sporadic ever since Marshmellow (continuing with Nougat) I just thought that no longer seeing “Bookmarks” and “Recent Tabs” in Chrome was yet another software glitch!

Seriously, the genius at Google who thought it was smart to replace this in lieu of some hidden scrollable content clearly shouldn’t be making decisions.

Something strange happened to me when I tried to set the flag: – chrome://flags didn’t work (showed me google search results for ‘chrome://flags’…) – about:flags did work – after setting the flag, chrome://flags does work and about:flags shows search results… (I know it doesn’t make sense, but this is what I saw…)

If google removes the bookmarks link with no chance of restoring it, I will have to seek another browser. Whomever thought it was a good idea not to have the bookmarks on the home page is sadly mistaken. Please listen the your users and keep the links on the bottom of the page.

F.Y.I As of May 2017 Chrome for Android You cannot Disable Articles for You on New Tabs to restore Bookmarks links and Recent Tabs links on the bottom of the new Tab page. Chrome Application version: Chrome 58.03029.83 The “Show content snippets on the New Tab Page Android” flag is no longer listed. . . cannot tap on the selection menu underneath it, and set the feature to disabled.

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About gHacks

Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.